Reflections of a Friend
by Lady Oni
Summary: The Torchwood team has no idea how a very alive Ianto has come to the Hub, or if it really is Ianto. With Jack refusing to believe it's him the team lauches a desperate investigation. But with Torchwood it's never that easy as another case comes up
1. Chapter 1

A/N: This is a sequel to my story The Day After Yesterday in my Torchwood Season 4 (All Our Yesterdays) I recommend you go back to read that one first. For all my return readers: Thank you and welcome back. On to the second "episode".

* * *

"Jack, what happened?"

That voice with the welsh accent, just like. . . . "No!" Jack said again with much more force.

"But Jack I . . ."Ianto, no the man . . .thing, that looked like Ianto made to move toward him, but was brought up by Jack.

"No. No. No," Jack a flurry of movement walking around the Hub in fast jerky motions almost pacing, but nowhere near as organized. He ran his hands through his hair, "What was I thinking? I thought . . .no, no," Jack mumbled to himself thoughts flying around his head at a million miles an hour..

"Jack," the voice was more forceful and stopped the man in his tracks as he turned to look at the intruder, "I don't understand what happened?" Now he looked frightened and worried.

Jack let out a short hysterical laugh moving again, "What happened?" He repeated eyes wild, "You died. That's what happened. I just started . . I thought." He froze again all frantic energy disappearing as he collapsed in on himself sitting on the grating back against the wall watching Ianto with a resigned, and darkly amused look.

The other man jerked as if to move towards Jack as he collapsed, but stopped himself even though it looked like it about killed him to do so, "What did you think?"

Jack let out a sardonic chuckle, "So this is it. I've finally gone crazy." He obviously couldn't handle being back here. The Hub was different in all the wrong ways, and the same in all the wrong ways, of course the memories would become too much, of course. He was only human after all right? This was another case of him being arrogant and thinking himself more than human, ha! He was less. At least he hadn't gotten anyone killed yet. That was a plus.

Though that brought up another thing. The team. He couldn't lead them like this. He pulled out his phone, feeling as if he lacked all energy. He pressed the button to call Gwen, then put it to his ear. "Hey, Gwen. Get back here now. Just you and Martha. Fast as you can," he hung up.

The younger man looked torn at what to do. Confusion, and worry painted on his face."You're not crazy," he said almost like a plea.

"Gwen what _exactly_ did he say," asked Martha.

"Just that he wanted only us to come and fast," Gwen growled in frustration, "It was more how he said it. I don't know he just sounded . . .wrong." The cog door rolled open revealing the Hub had been put in 'night mode'. Both women spotted Jack at the same time, and ran to crouch next to the man. "Jack, what's wrong?"

"Heh, I've lost it . . .I'm seeing things," he didn't look at either of them, but past them.

The women shared a look, Martha set a hand on the man's arm, "What exactly are you seeing?" she asked.

"Ianto." Jack waved her hand indicating behind them.

They both turned, eyes widening as they saw the man slouched in one of the chairs looking like he wasn't sure what he should say or do.

"Martha?" Gwen asked.

"Yes," the other woman answered, "Jack, if you're crazy, then so are we."


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: If you want to see a manip. I made for this episode: ladyoni. deviantart. Com /# / d33frju (take out the spaces)

Pelowskin, Socalrose, Lesleigh, and PCJanto : Thank you much

* * *

"Ianto?" Gwen's voice shook, both hands cover her mouth in shock.

The man looked up a sad, ironic smile on his face, "Hey Gwen," he said softly.

She let out a strangled cry as she threw herself at the man arms wrapped around him. He froze shocked, uncomfortable and unsure what to do with the crying woman.

"Oh my god," Martha smiled moving to Ianto obviously wanting to hug him to, but contented herself with just setting a hand on his shoulder. "Hey you."

He looked gratefully, "Hey."

There was a few moments of silence. Then "Step away from him," all three turned to see Jack. He was standing his face stony, his eyes cold, holding his webly up and pointing it at Ianto.

"Jack what are you doing?" yelled Gwen.

"Step away Gwen."

"It's Ianto," she called almost desperately.

"Ianto Jones, is dead. _That_ is not him. I don't know what it is, but it is not Ianto."

Ianto looked up crushed but resigned. "Jack," Gwen argued.

Martha spoke up, "Gwen. He's got a point. I saw the reports, I saw the body." Then she looked over to Jack, "but we are going to put him in a cell, and figure out if this is, or is not Ianto," she said firmly leaving no room to argue.

"Fine. Move," Jack commanded. Ianto stood shoulders sagging as he moved without argument.

Gwen watched in horror, as soon as the men were out of sight she turned to Martha a question in her eyes. Martha sighed, "It might be Ianto, but if it is we need to know how he's here to be sure. Otherwise it could be a real danger."

Gwen's eyes sparked with determination, "Then let's prove it. I'm calling Mickey back in."

"And Johnson," Martha reminded her.

Gwen didn't like that idea, but she conceded, "and Johnson," she pulled out her phone, and moved to her computer.

Martha sighed shaking her head. God, what was happening? What would this do to Jack? To Gwen? And to Ianto, if it was him?

* * *

The team was gathered around the conference room table, Jack sat stiffly at the head turned to the side, not looking at anyone. Gwen sat in her seat hand in front of her mouth, other arm wrapped around her self and looking down at the table. While Martha stood up near the front.

"Why were we called in?" Mickey looked straight at Martha figuring he wouldn't get an answer out of the other two.

Martha spoke flatly, "About half an hour after we left a man entered the Hub. The man was identical to, and claimed to be Ianto Jones."

"That's not possible," Johnson sat forward looking disturbed.

Mickey looked confused and very worried, "Who is Ianto Jones?"

Johnson cut off the others before they could answer earning a brief, grateful look from the other two women. "Ianto Jones: former Torchwood One employee, only survivor not to be in a mental hospital or to have committed suicide. Torchwood Three Archivist/Administrator until last year when he died during the 456 situation," she spoke coldly but glanced away at the end.

Mickey's eyes filled with understanding as he glanced over to Gwen and Jack. He'd been at Torchwood One during the battle, but he'd been armed and ready. He'd also lost people . . . friends, while working with Torchwood in the alternate universe.

Johnson looked at Jack, "Is there any chance your . . ."

"No," Jack said firmly still looking at the wall, "It doesn't work like that."

"But it could be him," Gwen put in forcefully.

"That's what we need to find out," said Martha.

"It's an attempt to get into Torchwood security," Jack spoke without emotion.

"This is Torochwood, we have all kinds of crazy things happen." Gwen turned to glare at Jack, "Why are YOU so sure it's not! If any one should believe in him you should!" she yelled.

Jack turned to her, "Because it's my job," he sneered, slamming his hand on the table and stormed out.

Tears started running down Gwen's face again, Martha looked down at her, "Gwen, go home."

"No, I'm going to help prove it's Ianto."

"Gwen, seriously go home. We can do this."

Mickey jumped in, "Yeah, we'll take care of this."

"No!"

"There," Johnson set Gwen's phone back next to her with a text message open. Gwen snatched it away glaring at the woman She glanced down at the phone, then seemed to deflate and got up to leave. "If there's anything, anything at all, call me," she said firmly.

When she left the room Martha turned to the other woman and raised en eyebrow. "I simply stole her phone, found her husband's number. I texted him to let him know she really needed him. He's coming to pick her up."

Martha nodded, "Thank you, she needed that."

Johnson nodded then stood, "I'll make sure she heads out," then she left.

Mickey waited until she was gone then turned to the doctor, "Ok, I get that someone they thought dead could be back, but Jack's reaction?"

Martha sighed and sat down, "Jack blames himself for Ianto's death. More than that, they were lovers. Ianto died in his arms."

Mickey looked at the door for a moment, "It's hard to imagine, Jumpin' Jack being serious about a lover, but he was."

"Yeah," she agreed, "he was." She almost seemed to shrink as she curled in on herself, "I'm scared to death of what we're going to find."

He got up, "The longer this goes on the worse it gets. Let's go figure this out."

Martha smiled with no mirth, "Yeah, let's go."


	3. Chapter 3

A/N:

PCJanto : Thanks it's hard for Jack because really that is a great way into Torchwood (whether that's what this situation is or not you'll find out) As for Gwen, well she's Gwen. If there isn't a reason to avoid it staring her right in the face she tends to the overly emotional, especially in this circumstance.

PiratelfDair: You'll see. Thanks.

Hayley: Thank you

randomness6: yes Ma'am!

30obelow: Glad to hear it! Thank you

* * *

Ianto sat in the cell head in his hands. What was going on? He was so confused. Jack's face. That hurt worse then anything. Not when he pointed his gun at him, the look before. The resignation so sure he had gone crazy, he didn't think he'd ever seen Jack so vulnerable. So broken.

He glanced up when he heard footsteps stop outside the cell, "I thought for sure Gwen would come," he said dispassionately.

"We forced her to go home," Martha answered.

Ianto turned away to look at the opposite wall, "And Jack?"

Martha frowned shifting uncomfortably, "Jack's a bit . . . busy, up in his office. He's . . ."

"It's fine," Ianto said without emotion. Then he turned to look at Martha, "He's right you know. You can't trust me."

"Unless we learn how you came back," Martha injected hopefully, "That's what we're going to be working on. Finding out."

Ianto smiled at her. Martha heard footsteps behind her. Ianto looked past her shocked, then she watched as walls seemed to come down cold hate like she'd never seen on Ianto's face settled. "What are _you_ doing here?"

"I work for Torchwood now," Martha heard Johnson say.

Ianto stood up walking right up to the clear wall, "After what you did to Jack? After you BLEW HIM UP? Why the hell have you decided to work here?" His voice was hard with tightly controlled fury burning.

"Ianto?" Martha was shocked, she'd never seen him like this.

"Captain Harkness, found me," she said flatly, "He asked me to work here. I'm here to bring you up," she held up handcuffs.

"Why would I let . . ." Ianto started.

"Captain's orders," Johnson explained.

That stopped him. "Ianto, please," begged Martha. The man glared at the other woman for a full on minute before nodding and offering his hands, mutinous look on his face.

Johnson opened the door, then efficiently hooked the cuffs and angled herself behind Ianto to walk him forward and out of the cells Martha following.

When they entered the main part of the Hub Ianto looked up to Jack's office. He saw the man standing there eyes cold, watching before he turned away and closed the blinds.

"I've got to go prep the medical tests," said Martha, she waited for a nod from Ianto before she turned to go down to the autopsy bay. The other woman led him over to a seat by a bunch of equipment that Mickey was still working with.

"Smith, will you be ok?"asked Johnson.

"Yeah I can handle this," Mickey waved her off, then he looked over at the other man, "You can take the cuffs off though."

"He's a possible threat," she argued.

"He's in the open, in the middle of the Hub, with all of us here. He'd be pretty stupid to try something now."

"My dealings with Jones tend to have proven him clever and unpredictable," she said with some respect in her voice.

"And if he is Jones, then we have nothing to worry about," the young man answered as if it was obvious.

Johnson started, she clearly hadn't thought of that. "Jones happens to be in the room and quite capable of hearing you," Ianto commented acerbically. Johnson quickly removed the cuffs and left.

"Sorry mate," Mickey grinned unrepentantly. "Mickey Smith, by the way," He introduced himself while fiddling with a devise.

"Ianto Jones," He answered even if the other man knew his name.

"Nice to meet you, could have been under better circumstances though."

Ianto let out a sardonic chuckle, "Could have been worse too."

Mickey considered never taking his eyes off of the computer he was working on, "Too true, this is Torchwood after all."

Ianto paused at that the other man spoke as if he knew from experience. "How long have you been working for Torchwood? Oh god, how long have I been gone?" he hadn't even considered the time he was missing. The hub was rebuilt so it had been a significant length of time.

"From what I understand about sixteen months, that you've been gone," answered Mickey a throwing a sympathetic look over, "As for me Jack recruited me about a week ago."

Ianto's head spun, "Over a year."

Mickey turned to him with a scanner running it over him, "Yeah."

Ianto's practical nature came out. He could accept this, he'd accepted weirder before. "And you were only recruited a week ago?"

"Yeah, so was Johnson," he stopped scanning looked at the readout then turned back to the computer.

Now Ianto was confused, "So it was just Jack, Gwen and Martha for over a year?" With Gwen being pregnant that didn't seem possible.

Mickey shook his head, "No, from what I understand, U.N.I.T. was running this place, Martha was working for them and Gwen was advising."

"Jack let U.N.I.T. in here?" Ianto asked with an incredulous look, "Where was he?" he felt a sharp weight settle in his stomach. He didn't like the way things were beginning to look.

"Don't know," another device was waved around him, "You'll have to ask one of the girls."

The men sat in silence of a few minutes. Mickey typing on the computer to interpret the data.

"Anything?" asked Ianto.

"Nothing from any of the quick tests," he sat back still looking at the various screens, "The others will take time to process. You best head down to the autopsy bay."

Ianto briefly considered making a comment to the other man on letting a possible threat loose in the Hub, but decided that would be just a bit _too_ weird at the moment. He got up and headed down to see the doctor.

Martha turned just as he came down, raising an eyebrow, "Hey mister, where's your escort?"

"I left Mickey, unconscious and tied to his computer," he said dryly.

Martha went up the steps to glance out into the main Hub, "Mickey, there's been an invasion of pink elephants," she called.

The man didn't look up from his work, obviously not paying attention, "Uhuh."

She glanced over at Ianto who just raised an eyebrow daring her to argue. She shrugged, "Close enough,"then came back down into the bay. "Just sit down." Ianto sat down on the autopsy table.

Martha rolled up his sleeve and drew some blood, then turned to put it into one of her machines. Ianto took a breath, "What happened?" he asked.

"That's what we're trying to figure out," she answered a bit too quickly. She could feel the look Ianto was giving her. She sighed, "Too much."

"I heard from Mickey that Jack's been gone?"

"Jack ran," Martha answered.

"What?" he asked, "Where to?"

She shrugged picking up the Brekan scanner, and used it, "Every where, was off planet for the last nine or ten months."

"With the Doctor?"

"No."

"Why did he run? My . . . death, shouldn't have been enough to push him to run," Something else must have happened.

Martha set down the scanner. She hooked her foot in the chair and brought it over dropping into it. Ianto felt his unease increase, what was Martha trying to avoid telling him?

"He had minutes to save all the children, millions of children. He had no choice, and after he lost you he was crushed. . ."

"Martha," Ianto interrupted. He knew he didn't want to know, which is exactly why he had to. "Just tell me what he had to do."

"I . . . " Martha looked torn before she finally came to a decision, "It's not my story to tell. I just want you to know, when he tells you what he did, that he had to. To save everyone."

Ianto sat back worry written all over his face. He thought back to the look on Jack's face when he'd shown up at the Hub. What had happened?


End file.
